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(2012 research)

An exchange of knowledge is possible between the separate identities of people with an dissociative identity disorder (DID). This is apparent from experiments by NWO researcher Rafaele Huntjens from the University of Groningen. Although the patients investigated stated that they remembered nothing of other identities, objective data revealed the contrary. The research results have important implications for the treatment and diagnosis of the disorder. The clinical psychologist published her research on 18 July in the open access journal PLoS ONE.

Memory loss has always been the most important factor that distinguished DID from a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, this distinction is now obsolete according to Huntjens. ‘Therapists can therefore consider giving DID patients the faster and demonstrably effective treatment PTSD patients currently receive,’ she says. Future research must demonstrate whether this approach is indeed more efficient for DID patients. There are also implications for forensic research: a perpetrator with DID is therefore clearly aware of criminal actions that he or she committed in a different identity.

Rafaele Huntjens realised her research with a Veni grant from NWO. The research was carried out in collaboration with Harvard University and the University of Amsterdam.Read the full article…

A patient-oriented manual for complex trauma survivors

And the clinical theory behind this treatment

This training manual for patients who have a trauma-related dissociative disorder includes short educational pieces, homework sheets, and exercises that address ways in which dissociation interferes with essential emotional and life skills, and support inner communication and collaboration with dissociative parts of the personality. Topics include understanding dissociation and PTSD, using inner reflection, emotion regulation, coping with dissociative problems related to triggers and traumatic memories, resolving sleep problems related to dissociation, coping with relational difficulties, and help with many other difficulties with daily life. The manual can be used in individual therapy or structured groups.

And if you really want to give this book a try and your therapist is also in for it, you could also consider to read the clinical theory behind this treatment such as given in the book
‘The Hanted Self’.

ELLERT R. S. NIJENHUIS, PhD

ONNO VAN DER HART, PhD

Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Utrecht University,Utrecht, The Netherlands

Published online: 10 Jun 2011

A New Definition and Comparison with Previous Formulations

THE PROPOSED DEFINITION

The definition, which is not self-evident, reads as follows:

Dissociation in trauma entails a division of an individual’s personality, that is, of the dynamic, biopsychosocial system as a whole that determines his or her characteristic mental and behavioral actions.

This division of personality constitutes a core feature of trauma. It evolves when the individual lacks the capacity to integrate adverse experiences in part or in full, can support adaptation in this context, but commonly also implies adaptive limitations. The division involves two or more insufficiently integrated dynamic but excessively stable subsystems. These subsystems exert functions and can encompass any number of different mental and behavioral actions and implied states. These subsystems and states can be latent or activated in a sequence or in parallel. Each dissociative subsystem, that is, dissociative part of the personality, minimally includes its own at least rudimentary first-person perspective. As each dissociative part, the individual can interact with other dissociative parts and other individuals, at least in principle. Dissociative parts maintain particular psychobiological boundaries that keep them divided but that they can in principle dissolve. Phenomenologically, this division of the personality manifests in dissociative symptoms that can be categorized as negative (functional losses such as amnesia and paralysis) or positive (intrusions such as flashbacks or voices) and psychoform (symptoms such as amnesia, hearing voices) or somatoform (symptoms such as anesthesia or tics).